DOVER, Tenn. — Mike Pulley upset incumbent Alderman Bud Berry for the Ward 1 seat on the Dover Board of Mayor and Aldermen in the March 6 town elections.

“I’m pumped up and excited,” Pulley said after his victory. “I’m hoping to bring some new ideas to the table and help push us forward.”

In the final tally, Pulley received 60 votes and Berry had 50. Ward 1 has a total of 397 registered voters.

Pulley said he thought residents of the ward wanted someone new on the board after Berry has been their representative for 36 years.

“Nobody has stepped up to the plate from my generation, so I decided to run,” he said, “I'm so greatly appreciative for the support of the people of Dover. Change is never easy but the time has come for new energy, and I look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Pulley was quick to recognize that Berry and other board members have been responsible leaders over the years.

“I don’t think Dover has many problems,” he said. “We don’t really have any debt, and we don’t have a lot of needs. The board has done a pretty good job.”

Voters in Ward 2 re-elected incumbent Boo Beechum, who handily beat challenger Archie Story.
Beechum's vote total was 88 to Story's 46. Ward 2 has a total of 587 registered voters, according to the Election Office.

Incumbent Mayor Lesa Fitzhugh was unopposed and received 184 total votes, while 11 write-in votes for mayor were recorded.

For the election, a total of 246 votes were casts of the 984 active registered voters within the city limits.

Election debut

For new Administrator of Elections Daniel Perigo, March 6 was his first election, which served as a small-scale preview of what’s to come in August for the County General Election.

“It went very smooth and easy,” he said. “It was a good one to start with.”

Perigo said the most valuable thing he learned was the process. From setting up for early voting to setting up voting booths at three polling places to learning how returns are tabulated after the polls closed were helpful for him to understand the workings of an elections.

“If you’ve never seen it, you don’t know how it runs,” he said. “Going through it was most helpful.”

Mark Hicks can be reached at 931-212-7626 or on Twitter: @markhicksleaf.